For some industries, it’s second nature to thrive in a society where advancements in technology help to drive up efficiency and productivity. For others, the advancements in technology bring about more difficulties and become another hurdle to overcome. With increasing demands already crippling some industries, technology could just contribute to a dying sector with plummeting interests in summoning its revival.
Farming – a dying sector?
The farming industry is a sector suffering this fate. But hope for its revival is still smouldering as farmers and enthusiasts work tirelessly to keep the sector afloat. The rise of agricultural technology, though helpful in rural areas, cannot be sustained by many farmers.
With increasing demands for healthy and nutritious food production, farmers must also adhere to sustainable practices that improve and protect the environment. Included in these are measures to improve soil quality, reduce carbon emissions, save water, and protect wildlife. Farmers are already pulled at both ends and the lack of access to land and money makes implementing these measures very difficult.
What is agri-tech and where does it fit in?
Agricultural technologies are innovations that help farmers improve efficiency and productivity in food production. Its technology can be derived from science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, or social collaborations among other farmers or research experts. It is a broad sector that covers not only agriculture, but also forestry, aquaculture, and horticulture, and it supports different productive systems like livestock and arable farming.
Agri-tech can be utilised to improve sustainability and to make farming more resilient and profitable. It can also increase farmers’ chances of being able to protect the environment, including wildlife and the areas they farm in. New developments in science and technology (robotics, sensors, etc.) are changing the course of farming; they are now geared towards improving efficiency and flow and can help quell some of the challenges farmers face, including helping them to meet the pressing demands of quality food production and environmental protection.
Is agri-tech a solution?
Although agri-tech can offer solutions that can increase profit for farmers, they are a grey area for most who struggle to afford its technology. The UK agri-tech industry is estimated to be worth £13bn, but with farmers’ inability to implement the new tech into their practices, substantial changes to make use of this technology have yet to be made on the ground.
“Many farmers cannot afford agri-tech machinery”, farmer Graham Denny said when I spoke to him, “and the repair and maintenance costs outweigh the benefits. The machinery is also overly complicated. With a traditional tractor, you only need a mechanic, [but] with agri-tech you may need a mechanic, an electrician, and a software engineer.”
The risk of agri-tech machinery being a danger to wildlife is also a possibility. A farmer driving a tractor in the daylight can see the partridge, lapwing, or young hare, and drive around them. But with a satellite steering machine, the chances are slim – especially at night. “Wildlife creatures [can be] dazzled by lights and become so terrified by the incessant noise that they abandon their nests. It’s carnage”, said Denny.
Agri-tech improves efficiency for farmers, but with the technology being so advanced, farmers can be left with nothing to do. “True agri-tech will reduce labour, but at what cost?” Denny continued. “The technology won’t make food cheaper, [and] due to the whole life cost of agri-tech equipment, only large enterprises will use them.
“Even then, soil can vary dramatically from field to field and area to area. So whereas a small family farm with generations of experience understand how to best cultivate their land and conserve wildlife habitat, such knowledge is lost on huge acreages – and with it, wildlife.”
Agri-tech and the existing farming challenges
One crucial point to note is that for agri-tech to be useful, it’s imperative to fix the problems that prohibit farmers from farming in the first place. Productivity looks different in regenerative farming, for example, compared to conventional or intensive methods. Tonnes per hectare, profit per hectare, resilience, and the ability to keep farming in a changing climate are matters that determine the outcome of a successful farm. Debates are looming on whether agri-tech can help with this.
When I interviewed him, Martin Lines, the CEO of Nature Friendly Farming (NFFN), said, “Agri-tech that helps farmers do those things can justify the development costs, but the bar needs to be set by real on-farm value, not by what developers think farmers should want.”
Introducing agri-tech in an industry already faced with immense challenges seems counter-intuitive. And with the cost of agri-tech equipment itself, there’s a growing consensus that agri-tech feels like a loss rather than a gain. This is the case for many farmers whose main priorities are to overcome these challenges.
Lines continued: “Tech is only ever as good as the context it sits in. If soils are degraded, or rotations aren’t working, sensors or software won’t fix that. Once the fundamentals are in place, tech can help farmers fine-tune their systems, cut emissions, and reduce dependency on external inputs – all of which support both farm viability and environmental goals.”
Moreover, the technology may be of good use to farmers, but nutrient-rich food comes from the biology in the soil and its diversity. Farmers need solutions to help improve soil quality, and many worry that agri-tech cannot do this. “Tech can support that direction of travel by helping farmers use fewer pesticides, protect soil structure, and monitor plant health, but it doesn’t drive it”, said Lines.
He continued: “It’s also crucial that farmers can own their data, choose tools that fit their business model, and avoid being locked into expensive packages that don’t reflect farm-level realities. The most promising tech is the kind that empowers farmers, not the kind that extracts value from them.”
Profitability in farming
Access to funding is one of the biggest barriers facing many farmers. And the cost of agri-tech innovation is a factor that adds to this problem. Baroness Batters, the former president of the National Farmers’ Union, was appointed to conduct an independent review on farm profitability for the short, medium, and long term. On 18 December 2025, she published her review, and provided a detailed account on the actions required to strengthen farming profitability to boost farm viability and resilience.
In the review, Batters says that: “the farming sector is a bedrock contributor to the UK’s economy. It directly contributes £10.5bn. No other sector’s impact is felt so broadly and by so many.” The farming sector also has a UK agri-food supply chain worth £150mn (6% of the total UK economy) with 13% of all employment in the UK coming from this sector alone (manufacturing, retail, and catering jobs).
Batters’ Farming Profitability Review, shows that farmers are feeling the “impact of volatility [and] huge economic challenges to produce high quality, affordable food.” Farmers aren’t given clarity on policy and finances, which leads them to question the viability of their farming businesses. Many, however, are persevering through the challenges, and want to see their farms passed onto the next generation.
Possible solutions for agri-tech implementation
Farmers can apply for the government’s ADOPT fund (Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies) if they want to create agricultural technologies that can benefit their farming practices but lack the financial means.
This was introduced in April 2025 by Defra under the Farming Innovation Programme. In this, the government has committed £20.6mn over the next two years to support farmers in introducing cutting edge technologies to boost productivity, resilience, and sustainability.
This support is split into two categories depending on the needs of the grant applicant. The first funding is the full ADOPT grant which will support collaborative, farmer-led, on-farm experiments that carry out testing of innovative technologies. The projects must have a total costs of between £50,000 and £100,000. The second funding is the ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant, available for farmers, growers or foresters who need support with their full grant ADOPT applications. With this grant, they are provided with professional assistance from industry experts who can facilitate them in their grant application. They will be entitled to £2,500 to help access this professional assistance.
Response to the ADOPT fund
Good soil health, a thriving natural environment, and resilient farming systems, are what currently seems to be of most priority to many farmers. Farmers need tools that help with them with this, as well as tools that help them bring their data together, and stay in control. According to Lines, “the ADOPT Fund has real potential if it genuinely puts farmers in the driving seat of innovation, instead of serving the supply chain rather the farmer, like many agri-technologies currently do.” He wants farmers to have access to tools that help them make better long-term decisions about their land and business.
“If [the ADOPT fund] is used well, it could support smarter, more efficient farming that boosts productivity while strengthening nature.” He continued, “it won’t solve the financial pressures farms face overnight, but it’s a positive step if it stays focused on practical, farmer-led solutions that deliver real economic and environmental outcomes on the ground.”
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